Essaouria or Agadir: which is the better place to visit?

Essaouira

Essaouira is a charming port town perched on the Atlantic coast and popular with kite-surfers due to the strong ocean winds. There’s a chilled out, hippy vibe to this town, where everything is walkable and the traffic-free medina beckons you for aimless wanders punctuated with mint tea breaks.

Essaouira is one of Morocco’s most beautiful towns and will appeal to those travellers who want to experience the local culture and cuisine. There are also many activities in Essaouira to enjoy, including learning to surf, kite-surfing, and quad-biking.

However, be warned, this is not the destination for sun bathers due to the strong Atlantic Winds. Essaouira has be coined “The Windy City of Africa” for a reason!

Agadir

Agadir is not the best representation of Morocco, and you would be forgiven for thinking you were on the Spanish Costas. An earthquake in 1960 destroyed most of the city, which has since been rebuilt into a large grid pattern with concrete being the preferred material.

Cheap flights lure sun worshippers to white-block hotels to grab a sunbed around a packed pool. Music blares from distorted stereos late into the night, and McDonalds and Pizza Hut decorate the corniche.

Agadir is geared toward package holidays and lacks Moroccan charm. But sometimes, warm weather, a pool, and a beach is all you want from a holiday. If you just want to relax and have access to western comforts, Agadir is for you.

Essaouira

Essaouira beach is renowned for the wind. Indeed, Essaouira is coined the ‘Windy City of Africa’ for a reason, and this is why Essaouira is popular with kite surfers.

However, this wind means that Essaouira beach is not great for sunbathing. Whilst there are the odd calm days and sunbeds available to hire most days close to the medina end of the beach, sand will find it’s way into every nook and cranny, and it’s far from a relaxing affair.

Essaouira beach is more for sunset strolls and getting active in the water. South of the main beach towards Diabat also offers horse-riding, quad-biking, and camel riding. And the beach to the north of town, known to the locals as Safi Beach, has a wild and abandoned feel where few tourists venture and buildings have been submerged by shifting sands.

The beach touts in Essaouira are far more relaxed than Agadir (and tend to sell ‘happy cookies’).

Agadir

The golden crescent of Agadir beach is sheltered from the Atlantic winds that can batter Essaouira’s coastline, and this is why it’s much more popular with sunbathers. Indeed it’s a top winter sun destination for Brits with TUI offering package holidays (Agadir is generally slightly warmer than Essaouira). But there is still nice breeze to cool down in the searing summer heat, when it’s particularly busy with domestic tourists.

You can also get active in the ocean in Agadir. There are a number of surf schools offering lessons. If you are visiting Agadir with kids, be warned that there is an undertow in the water.

Behind the beach, the long corniche is lined with big hotels, restaurants and shops.

However be warned, the touts on Agadir beach selling anything from strawberries to sunglasses are very pushy and can get rather annoying.

Essaouira

Essaouira medina offers a fantastic array of restaurants for the size of the medina. Indeed on our Essaouira walking tour, it may feel like every few metres there’s another restaurant to try.

Being a port town, Essaouira is obviously a haven for seafood lovers; you can even buy fish directly from the fishermen at the port and have it cooked on an open BBQ. But there’s more on offer than just sea food; do check out our guide to the best restaurants in Essaouira, which also includes Moroccan restaurants, tapas restaurants, an Asian restaurant, as well as vegetarian restaurants in Essaouira.

But you won’t find any fast food chains in Essaouira. The restaurants are all locally owned and if you’re visiting Essaouira with kids, be prepared for a bit of a wait and have a pack of UNO handy.

Agadir

If you don’t consider yourself an adventurous eater and need Western comfort food on hand, then Agadir is for you. There are no less than four McDonalds, a KFC, and Pizza Hut, as well as lots of other fast food options.

However, as Agadir is geared more to package holidays, many visitors don’t need to leave their resort.

But if you do want to venture beyond the hotel and steer away from the fast food restaurants, there are still some lovely local restaurants along the corniche to try (that generally serve Moroccan as well as Western dishes if you have a mixed group of preferences). We can personally recommend Citadel Restaurant. You will also find tapas, Italian, French, and seafood restaurants. There really is something for everyone.

Essaouira

Whether you’re looking for a camping spot, characterful Airbnb in the heart of the medina, high end hotel, or a beach resort with swimming pool, there will be something in Essaouira to suit your budget and needs. The range of accommodation for such a small town is really quite impressive, but can be rather overwhelming to decide where to stay in Essaouira.

But what Essaouira accommodation has over Agadir accommodation are the riads. Riads are a traditional Moroccan house. They are built around a central courtyard and ooze Moroccan charm with intricate arches and beautiful colours and tiling. These are dotted all over the medina, and range from high end luxury, to budget options.

Agadir

As we have already mentioned, Agadir is geared more towards package holidays. Large white concrete resorts framed around pools lure in the sun worshippers. The rebuilding of the city after the 1960 earthquake lent more to convenience rather than restoring architectural history. So you won’t find any riads to stay at in Agadir.

But with the majority of Agadir hotels you can expect spacious rooms, power showers, and a large swimming pool.

Head to the surfer town of Taghazout, which is just a 30 minute drive north of Agadir, for more characterful accommodation options.

Essaouira

Despite being known for its chilled vibes, there are so many things to do in Essaouria. Head to the mean beach for surfing, kite-surfing, wind surfing, plus there is also quad biking and camel rides towards Diabat! Although if you’re after a more sedate activity, maybe wander the medina for the best shopping in Essaouira or try a traditional Moroccan hammam; though be warned, all inhibitions need to go out the window with a hammam!

Check out our 1 day and 2 day guide to Essaouira if you’re short on time.

Agadir

Whilst we’ve probably given you the impression from this post so far that Agadir lacks any Moroccan charm, that’s not entirely true. Shop with the locals and experience true Morocco at Souq El Had, and although aimed at tourists, the reconstructed medina is also worth a visit to see how Agadir used to look like pre-earthquake (paid entry).

Stunning Paradise Valley (where you can swim in a gorge) is only a 1 hour drive away, and the nearby Crocopark is and absolute must do if you are visiting Agadir with kids and any reptile fans.

Essaouira

Being a small town, it is easy enough to get around Essaouira by foot; the medina is small enough to walk from one end to the other, and the 2km promenade walk along the beach is really lovely.

However, if legs are feeling tired or perhaps you need to head to the Carrefour supermarket, it’s easy enough getting around Essaouira (outside the Medina) via taxi. It’s a flat fee of 8DH (9DH at night) all over Essaouira in the blue petits taxis. This flat fee means that no haggling is required (very refreshing for Morocco!)

It’s easy enough to flag a taxi down, and there’s generally a queue of them just outside the Medina, opposite the beach, by Hello Essaouira Office of Tourism (click here for Google Maps location).

Agadir

Aside from a stroll along the corniche, Agadir isn’t really set up for walking. To get to the tourist sites (such as the reconstructed medina, and Crocoparc) it’s easiest to drive. But if you don’t have your own wheels, taxis are a good option.

Unfortunately, taxis are very unlikely to use the metre with tourists and haggling is required. Taxis hang around outside of the hotels, waiting for tourists to exit. Ignore these, as they will be quoting you extremely inflated fares. Instead, walk away from your hotel and flag one down. The driver won’t use the metre, but it should be a better price.

Essaouira

Most tourists to Essaouira visit as part of a bigger Moroccan road trip or combine it with a visit to Marrakech (read our guide for getting from Marrakech to Essaouria). Although there are direct flights to Essaouira Airport from a handful of European airports, including Paris Orly, London Stansted, Brussels South Charleroi, and Marseille Provence (all bar Paris are serviced by Ryanair, Transavia France services the route from Paris). We certainly think that Essaouira is worthy of a stay for at least a week or two, and in fact Essaouira is the most popular destination for digital nomads in Morocco.

Agadir

Agadir offers many more direct flight options across Europe including Iceland, Poland, Spain, Germany, Italy, as well as UK and France. There are over 100 flights per week landing to Agadir airport. This therefore means that Agadir is much easier to get to from overseas that Essaouira.